Pay Increases

County Executive Janet S. Owens plans to cut cost-of-living increases for thousands of employees, including public safety unions and all Board of Education employees, her spokeswoman said yesterday. Spokeswoman Jody Hedeman Couser attributed the cuts to projected revenue shortfalls and expected state budget cuts. "In light of the current financial situation, pay increases and all pending capital projects are continuously under review for affordability," Couser said. Aside from Board of Education employees, those affected will be the sheriff's deputies of Teamsters Local 103; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2563; International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1563; the Anne Arundel County Police Sergeants Association; and Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 70. It is unclear how much the cuts will save the county for the next fiscal year, which will begin July 1, Couser said.

Mayo A. Shattuck IlI -- who successfully engineered the sale of Constellation Energy Group to Chicago-based Exelon Corp. – took in $17.3 million in total compensation last year, a nearly 11 percent increase from 2010. Shattuck's base salary of $1.3 million was unchanged from a year earlier. He received no cash incentive payment last year, compared with a $1.7 million payout in 2010. The compensation package, which the company reported Friday, includes additional payouts in stocks, options and the value of his pension.

Anne Arundel School Superintendent C. Berry Carter II last night proposed a $380.9 million spending plan for the next school year that he said would not come close to providing for all the system's needs.The spending plan seeks funding for 10 new teachers but provides no pay increases for school system employees for the third year in a row."There is a 9 percent increase above the current budget," Mr. Carter told the school board. "But this does not, by any stretch of the imagination, mine or yours or anyone else's, include all of the things we want."

Compensation for T. Rowe Price Group's top executives went up last year, the Baltimore money manager reported Thursday. Chief Executive Officer and President James A.C. Kennedy's total package rose 10.5 percent to $7.9 million in 2011. Kennedy's base salary remained at $350,000, according to the company's proxy. His cash bonus rose to $5.5 million, from $5 million in 2010. The value of his stock options was $1.96 million, up from $1.7 million. Other compensation, which includes retirement contributions, matching charitable contributions and other benefits, totaled about $70,800, a slight increase from a year earlier.

WASHINGTON -- Growth in U.S. employees' wages and salaries accelerated this year for the first time since 1990, according to an annual survey.The survey, done by the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based American Compensation Association, showed that the rate of pay increases climbed to 4.3 percent in 1996 from 4.1 percent in 1995."Companies have been re-engineering to take certain costs out of their systems," said Wallace Nichols, the association's executive director. As part of this effort, he said, companies have instituted variable pay plans that "produced bonuses for employees" and led to the faster overall growth.

Southwest Airlines and the union representing 7,400 of its flight attendants have reached a tentative contract agreement, ending a more than two-year deadlock. Details of the proposed contract between Southwest, the dominant carrier at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and the Transport Workers Union Local 556 have not been released. Thom McDaniel, president of Transport Workers Union Local 556, said the deal provided bigger pay raises than the company's last offer in February, which included less than 3 percent annual pay increases for 6 1/2 years.

Mayor Sheila Dixon plans to keep a $3,700 pay raise despite a public outcry and pledges from some City Council members to return or donate their equivalent cost-of-living adjustments. Asked yesterday whether she would give the raise to charity, Dixon said at a news conference: "To be honest with you, no, 2 1/2 percent, based on what I do seven days a week, 24 hours [a day], trying to raise a family, a daughter in college." The mayor will now make $151,700 yearly.

WASHINGTON -- Federal union representatives attacked yesterday a Clinton administration proposal to eliminate all pay increases for federal workers who perform poorly, calling it unfair and counterproductive.The proposal by the Office of Personnel Management to deny all pay increases to workers who receive poor evaluations would be "punitive," said John Sturdivant, president of the American Federation of Government Employees.Under the proposal, federal workers -- including 300,000 who live in Maryland -- would not receive cost of living adjustments or so-called locality increases, which are designed to eliminate the gap between public and private sector pay in different regions of the country.

Baltimore County Executive Roger B. Hayden has ordered 4 percent pay increases for all county department heads and their staffs to match a negotiated raise that county merit employees received Jan. 1.The raises will cost the county between $40,000 and $50,000 a year. The pay for the top tier of county department heads will be increased by $2,700 to $70,304, and the second tier by $2,400 to $65,978.Hayden should more than recoup the expense with an ordered $100,000 cut in the county tourism office and the firing of its $46,000-a-year director, Susan Steckman.

State Treasurer Richard N. Dixon said yesterday that he is likely to oppose a series of pay raises for Gov. Parris N. Glendening's senior staff members when the increases come before the Board of Public Works tomorrow.Dixon, one of three members of the board, said the raises exceed General Assembly guidelines limiting such increases to 6 percent."More than 6 percent, I'm going to vote against -- that's the standard set by the legislature," said Dixon, who represents the General Assembly on the board.

Legg Mason Inc. reported Wednesday that its chief executive's pay package rose more than $500,000 in the past fiscal year as the Baltimore money manager staged a turnaround of its finances. Chairman and CEO Mark R. Fetting's compensation totaled $4.6 million for the year ending March 31, up 12 percent from $4.1 million for fiscal 2009, according to a regulatory filing. Fetting's package included $500,000 in base salary and a $950,000 cash bonus — the same amounts he received in the previous year.

The city's top officials are scheduled to vote on automatic pay raises for themselves tomorrow — the same day that Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake is slated to unveil a grim budget that includes deep cuts to city services. But the mayor, Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young and Comptroller Joan Pratt said they plan to decline the raises and to have the money deducted from their pay checks and returned to the city's general fund. "Because of the economic and financial difficulties that we're facing in the city of Baltimore, I think it's only right that we give it back," said Young.

County Executive John R. Leopold has withdrawn his request for the state to waive a requirement for the county to pay up to an additional $9 million in funding for public schools next fiscal year. The state's "maintenance of effort" law requires local governments to increase spending on schools each year to qualify for state education funding. The state allowed the jurisdictions to request a waiver to that requirement by March 31. Leopold, along with county council Chairman Edward R. Reilly, submitted a letter to State Board of Education President James H. DeGraffenreidt Jr. at the end of March explaining that funding the maintenance of effort could "seriously impair" other county services.

State and federal officials announced Friday that they are sweetening payments to Maryland farmers in hopes of taking cropland out of production to help clean the Chesapeake Bay. Meeting on a farm near Westminster, Gov. Martin O'Malley and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack signed an agreement to funnel $198 million in federal funds to the state over the next 15 years. The money will allow the government to increase payments to farmers to plant trees rather than crops along streams.

The Howard County school system and the union that represents most of its employees resumed contract negotiations last week on the heels of congressional approval of a federal stimulus package that is expected to influence the proposals of both sides. Though the economy is in recession and state and county budgets are being squeezed, many members say the union that represents Howard teachers and school staff members should press for a pay increase. "We're all suffering," said Karen Covington, a teacher at Long Reach High School.

Faced with worsening economic conditions, employers are planning to dole out even smaller salary increases this year, according to a new survey. And given the climate, some workers might not see raises at all. HR consulting firm Hewitt Associates found that workers could see an average base pay raise of 3 percent, which is less than the 3.8 percent employers had projected in July. "It's not a pretty picture out there," says Ken Abosch, Hewitt's North American practice leader for compensation consulting.

The Anne Arundel County school board approved yesterday a teachers' contract that provides the biggest pay increases to new and veteran educators, while also giving an across-the-board 1 percent raise to all teachers. The two-year contract, which takes effect July 1, pays first-year teachers an annual salary of $33,347, up from $32,167 this year. The increase doesn't put Anne Arundel in the same league with its wealthier neighbors, but officials say it will keep the county competitive.

BioReliance Corp. has raised the pay of 80 percent of its U.S. employees under a salary-adjustment plan started a year ago to bolster the biotechnology company's recruiting and retention efforts.The Rockville company, which earned $2.3 million on $25 million VTC in sales in the first half of this year, began the program because of increasing pressures from high-technology recruiting firms and competitors looking to entice key employees to jobs with higher salaries, said the company's president and chief executive officer, Capers McDonald.

Mayor Sheila Dixon plans to keep a $3,700 pay raise despite a public outcry and pledges from some City Council members to return or donate their equivalent cost-of-living adjustments. Asked yesterday whether she would give the raise to charity, Dixon said at a news conference: "To be honest with you, no, 2 1/2 percent, based on what I do seven days a week, 24 hours [a day], trying to raise a family, a daughter in college." The mayor will now make $151,700 yearly.

The County Council cut nearly $1 million from the proposed operating budget last week but kept in place a 9 percent pay raise for government employees. The seven-member panel labored long over 111 amendments to the 2009 budget, which must go to the county executive by Friday. While some changes were the council's own, most came from the administration. Members approved all but a few of the amendments and are set to vote on the nearly $900 million budget Tuesday. "We have to make sure our amendments balance the budget," said Council President Billy Boniface.